Downtown New Year’s Eve celebration canceled for 2024
There will be no First Night this year.
The family-friendly New Year’s Eve celebration, held in around North and South Straub Park for 30 years, has been canceled for 2024. First Night board president Hal Freedman said there were several reasons – the most serious of which was that the nonprofit simply couldn’t find any financial backers. “We have no money,” Freedman said, adding that the City of St. Petersburg declined, as it did in 2023, to contribute to the event budget.
Last year’s event was a scaled-down version of First Night, which had traditionally been a series of musical and other performances, along with art demonstrations, children’ games, vendors and more.
First Night costs around $170,000 to produce, Freedman told the Catalyst in 2023. In previous years, the City of St. Petersburg contributed $40,000, but took back well over half of that for supplying police and sanitation services.
In peak years, it attracted an estimated 20,000 people to the downtown area. Performances were also held in Williams Park and in area churches, museums and storefronts. The evening ended with an “early” fireworks show for children to enjoy.
The pandemic forced First Night to go virtual in 2020, and things never really recovered. The price of fireworks went through the roof. Many of the people who volunteered at the event were reluctant to return to work, and backers started to back out.
First Night is alcohol-free, and competition with the “new” St. Pete Pier – with its bars and restaurants, and a giant fireworks demonstration at midnight – didn’t make things easy.
First Night’s sole paid employee – its executive director – recently resigned to take on a full-time job.
Freedman is hopeful things will turn around, and First Night can return in 2025.
Donna Kostreva
October 22, 2024at10:09 pm
The current crew at city hall can try to give themselves bonuses for work they had already been paid to do. They allow huge projects to be built all over town utilizing century old plumbing under the streets with 21St century unsafe technology above ground. They see fit to turn off the sewerage system during the hurricane, yet find funding to build a new “dome.” Where will the Rays play now that the “Trop” is kaput? Sadly,families who have enjoyed a thirty year tradition of wholesome merriment on NewYear’s Eve will celebrate in isolation. What a fine kettle of fish we have running City Hall!
Burg4Life
October 22, 2024at6:50 pm
Not worth keeping this event alive. Too logistically complicated and the city has better places to use its budget. Private funding is fine but they either had bad fundraising skills or it’s just not a desirable event. Sadly, it’s a different city than it used to be.
Debra Roman
October 22, 2024at4:21 pm
The city is blind not to support this event. Wrong leadership, St Pete
Barb
October 22, 2024at12:37 pm
But yet they the city can do Halloween thing but news year eve kinda sad I know it’s different groups but the y could have shared something